The Book of Stations

1. Mawqif 287 · “Truly We are every thing”

   In brief✦AI

   Starting from Q 54:49, “Truly We are every thing”, the Emir says God reports that He is every thing in respect of the Essence, existent or nonexistent, since “thing” is the most general term. Every kind of existence and nonexistence alludes to Him. He is the light spread over nonexistence and the darkness it is spread over. What received the light has forms in knowledge, the fixed entities; what missed it went astray into darkness; forms and accidents return to it, while substances do not cease.

   See the print: Damascus 1966, p. 880, Damascus 1966, p. 881 (archive.org)

   قَالَ تَعَالَى: «إِنَّا كُلَّ شَيْءٍ»⁽²⁾.

   The Exalted has said: “Truly We, every thing …” (Q 54:49).✦

   ¶ 3014

2. قَرَأَهَا ابْنُ السَّمَّاكِ بِرَفْعِ «كُلٍّ».

   Ibn al-Sammāk read it with “every” in the nominative.✦

   ¶ 3015

3. أَخْبَرَ تَعَالَى أَنَّهُ كُلُّ شَيْءٍ، مِنْ حَيْثُ الذَّاتُ، مِنْ مَعْدُومٍ وَمَوْجُودٍ.

   The Exalted has made known that He is every thing, in respect of the Essence, whether nonexistent or existent.✦

   ¶ 3016

4. فَاِنَّ الشَّيْءَ أَعَمُّ الْعَامِّ، وَهُوَ كُلُّ مَا يَصِحُّ أَنْ يُعْلَمَ وَيُخْبَرَ عَنْهُ.

   For “thing” is the most general of the general: it is everything of which it is valid that it be known and that something be reported of it.✦

   ¶ 3017

5. فَهُوَ مِنْ حَيْثُ هُوَ: الْعَدَمُ وَالْوُجُودُ وَالْمَعْدُومُ وَالْمَوْجُودُ.

   So He, in respect of what He is, is nonexistence and existence, the nonexistent and the existent.✦

   ¶ 3018

6. فَقَوْلُنَا: الْعَدَمُ الْمُطْلَقُ، وَالْوُجُودُ الْمُطْلَقُ، وَالْعَدَمُ الْمُقَيَّدُ، وَالْوُجُودُ الْمُقَيَّدُ، وَهَذَا كَانَ مَعْدُوماً وَدَخَلَ فِي الْوُجُودِ، وَمَعْدُومٌ لَا يَدْخُلُ فِي الْوُجُودِ، وَعَدَمٌ اِضَافِيٌّ، وَعَدَمٌ حَقِيقِيٌّ... وَنَحْوُ هَذَا. كُلُّ ذَلِكَ كِنَايَةٌ عَنْهُ،

   So when we say “absolute nonexistence”, “absolute existence”, “restricted nonexistence”, “restricted existence”, “this was nonexistent and entered into existence”, “a nonexistent that does not enter into existence”, “relative nonexistence”, “real nonexistence”, and the like, all of that is an allusion to Him;✦

   ¶ 3019

7. فَلَا يُتَصَوَّرُ شَيْءٌ يَكُونُ مَحْسُوساً أَوْ مَعْلُوماً أَوْ مَكْتُوباً أَوْ مَلْفُوظاً؛ اِلاَّ وَهُوَ هُوَ.

   so that no thing can be conceived, whether sensed, known, written or uttered, but it is He.✦

   ¶ 3020

8. وَلَيْسَ الْوُجُودُ بِشَيْءٍ زَائِدٍ عَلَى الْمَوْجُودِ، وَلَا الْعَدَمُ بِشَيْءٍ زَائِدٍ عَلَى الْمَعْدُومِ.

   Existence is not something additional to the existent, nor is nonexistence something additional to the nonexistent.✦

   ¶ 3021

9. فَانْبِسَاطُ النُّورِ، وَلَيْسَ اِلاَّ مَرْتَبَةَ الصِّفَاتِ عَلَى الْعَدَمِ، حَتَّى كَانَ مِنْهُ قَابِلٌ لِلنُّورِ، وَلَيْسَ اِلاَّ الْمُمْكِنَاتِ. وَغَيْرُ قَابِلٍ؛ وَلَيْسَ اِلاَّ الْمُمْتَنِعَاتِ، الْمُشَارُ اِلَى ذَلِكَ بِقَوْلِهِ– صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ– «اِنَّ اللَّهَ خَلَقَ الْخَلْقَ فِي ظُلْمَةٍ، ثُمَّ رَشَّ عَلَيْهِمْ مِنْ نُورِهِ، فَمَنْ أَصَابَهُ مِنْ ذَلِكَ النُّورِ اهْتَدَى. وَمَنْ أَخْطَأَهُ ضَلَّ». هُوَ هُوَ.

   So the spreading of the light over nonexistence (and that is nothing but the rank of the attributes), until there came to be from it what receives the light (and that is nothing but the possibles) and what does not receive it (and that is nothing but the impossibles), that to which he (God bless him and grant him peace) alludes in his saying: “God created the creation in darkness, then sprinkled upon them some of His light; whoever was struck by some of that light was guided, and whoever it missed went astray”, is He.✦

   ¶ 3022

10. فَهُوَ النُّورُ الْمُنْبَسِطُ، وَهُوَ الظُّلْمَةُ الْمُنْبَسِطُ عَلَيْهَا.

    So He is the outspread light, and He is the darkness over which it is spread.✦

    ¶ 3023

11. فَمَا قَبِلَ النُّورَ مِنَ الْعَدَمِ، وَلَيْسَ اِلاَّ الذَّاتَ، فَاِنَّهَا مَادَّةُ الْعَدَمِ. وَالْوُجُودِ حَصَلَتْ لَهُ صُوَرٌ فِي الْعِلْمِ تُسَمَّى أَعْيَاناً ثَابِتَةً.

    So that of nonexistence which received the light (and that is nothing but the Essence, for it is the matter of nonexistence and of existence) came to have forms in knowledge, which are called the fixed entities.✦

    ¶ 3024

12. وَمَا لَمْ يَقْبَلِ النُّورَ ضَلَّ. يَعْنِي فِي الْعَدَمِ، وَهُوَ ظُلْمَةُ الذَّاتِ.

    And what did not receive the light went astray, meaning: in nonexistence, which is the darkness of the Essence.✦

    ¶ 3025

13. وَمَا وُجِدَ وَانْعَـدَمَ، وَلَيْسَ اِلاَّ الصُّوَرَ وَالْأَعْرَاضَ؛ رَجَـعَ اِلَى الظُّلْمَـةِ.

    And what came into existence and then ceased to exist (and that is nothing but forms and accidents) has gone back to the darkness.✦

    ¶ 3026

14. وَلَمَّا الْجَوَاهِرُ فَاِنَّهَا لَا تَنْعَدِمُ بَعْدَ الْوُجُودِ.

    As for the substances, they do not cease to exist after existence.✦

    ¶ 3027

Translations, word glosses and term notes are AI-generated (Claude) and marked as such; no published translation is reproduced.Word analysis is automatic (CAMeL Tools), guided by the text's vowelling. How this text was established.